Red Sox (71-43) @ Minnesota Twins (51-64)
SP - Erik Bedard (4-7, 3.55) vs. Francisco Liriano (7-9, 5.03)
1. Jacoby Ellsbury, CF
2. Dustin Pedroia, 2B
3. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B
4. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
5. David Ortiz, DH
6. Jed Lowrie, SS
7. Carl Crawford, LF
8. Jason Varitek, C
9. Darnell McDonald, RF
Three Strikes:
1. Jarrod Saltalamacchia was once a major prospect with the Braves who was the key piece in the deal that sent Mark Teixeira from the Texas Rangers to Atlanta. He quickly morphed into a guy who couldn't hit or even throw the ball back to the pitcher who became so undervalued that the Red Sox were able to pick him up at the trade deadline in 2010 for a handful of prospects that have little chance of playing in the big leagues.
Today he is the Red Sox starting catcher.
The 26-year-old Saltalamacchia has not yet lived up to the hype that surrounded him when he was with the Braves but his consistent improvement throughout the 2011 season has provided the Red Sox with a solid catcher.
For the season he has posted a .257 BA with 11 HR, 38 RBI, and an OPS of .800 in 72 games while sharing catching duties with Jason Varitek.
The key has been in his month-to-month improvement. After a horrible April (.216/0/6/.547) he has turned into a very good hitting catcher, peaking in June (.327/1/5/.945) and July (.283/4/14/.893).
The reason for the improvement seems to be a healthy work ethic. Nick Cafardo posted on his Twitter account that, despite having the night off tonight, Salty was in the batting cage working on his right handed swings.
That is much needed work. As a right handed batter this season, Saltalamacchia is hitting .219/3/10/.645 as opposed to .274/8/28/.868 from the left side.
2. The second Erik Bedard start should be an improvement on his successful first start in Fenway Park last week against the Indians in which he earned a no-decision after allowing three runs in five innings.
In his only career start at Minnesota's Target Field (which came earlier this season while pitching for the Mariners) Bedard got the win after pitching six scoreless innings.
The Red Sox would definitely take that kind of performance tonight.
3. David Ortiz had a big night in the 8-6 comeback win over the Twins on Monday, going 4-for-5 with a home run, double, and 3 RBI.
The key was that Big Papi did not try to pull everything. Other than his majestic home run, all of his hits were to left or center field and the only out he made was a fly ball to left.
When Ortiz is using the entire field he is nearly impossible to pitch to and it makes the Red Sox offense even more deadly.
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